As Jurgen Klinsmann watched the names of the other national teams emerge from "Pot 3" during Friday's World Cup draw, the U.S. men's soccer coach began to realize two things: His team was destined for a group that included Germany, and it was probably going to have to play in one of the most inhospitable sites in World Cup history: the Amazon capital of Manaus.

These were precisely the two things he did not want. "We got them both," Klinsmann said after the draw. "It is what it is. We don't complain."

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Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo
European Pressphoto Agency

The draw, which was held on Brazil's northeast coast, was clearly a blow for Klinsmann's boys. It not only put the U.S. in a group with No. 2-ranked Germany (possibly the best team in the world), it also put them in the same shark tank as Ghana (the team that eliminated the U.S. in the 2010 World Cup) and No. 5 Portugal, the domain of superstar Cristiano Ronaldo.

But it's probably a good thing that Klinsmann spoke before he'd seen this: Judging by FIFA's world rankings, there's reason to believe that the U.S. was placed in the toughest World Cup group of all time. The current rankings of the teams in Group G—Germany (2), Portugal (5), U.S. (14) and Ghana (24)—add up to 45. Compare that to the collective rankings of every group before the start of each World Cup since the tournament expanded to 32 countries in 1998, and no group of four has ever had a lower total.

The U.S. will start off on June 16 in Natal against Ghana, which has booted the Americans from the past two tournaments. Then the U.S. will take on Portugal on June 22 in Manaus. The U.S. wraps up group play against Germany in Recife on June 26. "If you want to advance in the World Cup, you're going to have to beat good teams," said Sunil Gulati, president of the U.S. Soccer Federation.

That's only sort of true. The U.S. advanced in 2010 after winning just once—against Algeria, one of the weakest teams in the field. "Our group is the group of death," said Akwasi Appiah, coach of Ghana's Black Stars.

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Germany's Bastian Schweinsteiger
Imago/Zuma Press

Group D, which features Uruguay, Costa Rica, Italy and England may be as tough as Group G. "I was hoping to get good games, I was hoping to get good opponents, and that's exactly what we've got," said England coach Roy Hodgson. But it's hard to imagine another group rivaling G when it comes to its dastardly combination of difficulty and emotional narrative. Klinsmann was both a superstar for Germany and the coach of Die Mannshcaft (The Team) in 2006, when it finished in third place. Married to an American, Klinsmann has lived in the U.S. for more than a decade, but his ties to Germany remain strong. His assistant coach in 2006 was Joachim Loew, the current German head coach.

"With Jurgen Klinsmann they have another mentality," Loew said of the American team. "This is special for us because we worked together for two years. It was great for us especially for me. I learned a lot from Jurgen, he knows German football very well." So well, in fact, that Klinsmann has stocked the U.S. with German-Americans such as Fabian Johnson and Jermaine Jones, who were raised in Germany. They weren't good enough to make Germany's team, which includes one of the game's great distributors in Mesut Ozil and the brilliant midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger.

For the U.S., there is also a chance at redemption against Ghana and their star, Asamoah Gyan, whose extra-time goal eliminated the run for the U.S. in South Africa in the round of 16. "We are going to have a very nice game," Appiah said with a sly smile of the rematch with the U.S.

There will also be the challenge of facing the lightning-fast Cristiano Ronaldo, the kind of unstoppable threat for Portugal that the Americans seldom face in a meaningful game. Portugal coach Paulo Bento called Germany the obvious favorite but said any of the four teams could advance to the knockout stage. "The U.S. has got a lot of good experience," Bento said, perhaps remembering a U.S. win over Portugal and its star Luis Figo in 2002.

Minutes after the draw, Klinsmann was mapping a psychological course that begins with Ghana. "If we start off there well, it builds some confidence for the next two big ones," he said. "Hopefully we are going to surprise."

Across the rest of the tournament, the 2014 World Cup should offer its usual menu of surprises and locks. Brazil kicks off in Group A against Croatia, and the Selecao is almost sure to advance in a group that also has Cameroon's Indomitable Lions and a Mexican team that struggled in qualifying.

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Ghana's Kevin-Prince Boateng
Associated Press

In Group B, Australia coach Ange Postecoglou was already dreading the pairing with 2010 finalists Spain and the Netherlands, along with Chile. "It's a very tough group," he said. "We're a young nation in terms of football."

Colombia, playing on its home continent, should be tough leaving Greece, the Ivory Coast and Japan to battle it out for the second spot in Group C.

England fans and media will likely spend the next six months predicting doom in Group D with Uruguay, Italy and Costa Rica. In Group E, France, which needed a playoff to qualify for Brazil, lands in a soft group with Switzerland, the weakest top seed, unproven Ecuador and overmatched Honduras. Argentina gets a cakewalk in Group F with Nigeria, Iran, and newcomer Bosnia-Herzegovina. In Group H, Belgium and Russia should advance past Algeria and South Korea.

Is there a silver lining in drawing the short straw? If the U.S. does manage to survive to see the round of 16, a pairing with Russia or Belgium isn't terrifying. "We have the ambition to go to the next round," a defiant Klinsmann said. "We've had the most successful year in our history. We built the confidence and the belief that we are going to deal with those challenges."

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